What Was Desired
by Lyralocke
Summary: Kataang, oneshot. Their first daughter was not what was desired, but that didn't make her any less perfect.


_I'm feeling really sappy right now for some reason. I actually rather dislike baby fics, but I went and wrote one because I'm a hypocrite. I got the idea from the movie MARIE ANTOINETTE of all things. You might see the reference, you might not. Either way._

_EDIT: I added a note at the bottom that you might find interesting. Take a look when you're done reading. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar_

* * *

"Katara…" 

The young waterbender opened her eyes, yawning.

"What is it, Aang?" she asked quietly, rolling over to look at her husband.

"Baby," he muttered, clearly finding it difficult to fully wake himself.

Katara paused a moment. Sure enough, the baby was whimpering. It wasn't a full-out cry yet, but Katara could tell it would be.

"You sleep," Katara murmured, leaning forward and kissing her husband's cheek.

"You're a goddess," he sighed.

Katara smiled fondly and sat up, stretching her arms over her head. She got to her feet, shivering slightly when she stepped onto the cool stone floor, and moved quickly toward the crib on the other side of the room.

"Hey, kid," she whispered, smiling brightly and pulling her two-month-old daughter into her arms. The tiny girl continued crying, and Katara paused, listening. She recognized this cry. She wasn't hungry or sick, she just wanted to be held. So the young mother held her daughter's head to her shoulder and moved quietly out of the bedroom and onto the balcony.

Katara started rocking gently back and forth, looking up at the stars. Tired though she was, she couldn't keep the smile from her face. She and Aang had been married for nearly two years, living a peaceful life together at the Southern Air Temple.

There had been a great deal of criticism brought against Aang for marrying a waterbender. It slightly decreased the chances of his offspring being airbenders, and as everyone knew, a new generation of airbenders would be needed in a couple hundred years when the Avatar cycle came back around.

But the young lovers had been deaf to the world's protests, arguing that Aang would never want to have children with someone he didn't love. So when Aang turned sixteen, reaching manhood in the Water Tribe, he and Katara were married. Twenty months later, their first child was born.

Unfortunately, she was not a bender.

Katara closed her eyes, pulling her daughter a little closer. The world was displeased with her, her husband, and this tiny innocent child.

"Oh, Leila," Katara sighed. "You aren't what was desired, but that doesn't make you any less perfect to me."

The baby had stopped crying. Katara removed her from her shoulder, simply cradling her in her arms instead so she could look at her. Leila had her mother's dark skin and hair, but she had her father's eyes.

"An airbender would have been a child of the world," Katara whispered, smiling. "But you, Leila, shall be mine."

"Ours."

Katara glanced over her shoulder. Aang was walking toward her, yawning like a lion and rubbing his eyes. He shivered a little upon reaching the balcony, which was understandable considering he wore only pants to bed. Katara smiled.

"Right, ours," she amended quietly. "I thought I told you to sleep."

"Since when could you ever get me to listen?" he asked, yawning again and wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. He leaned his chin on her shoulder, looking down at their tiny daughter.

"She's beautiful," he mused.

"She's perfect," Katara corrected him.

"True," he consented, turning his head and kissing her neck. "We're pretty much great at this."

"At what?" she asked, laughing when his lips tickled her neck. Leila made a small sound in her sleep and shifted in Katara's arms. She started rocking again, Aang mimicking her movements to stay close.

"At being parents."

"Oh, right," she laughed again. They both fell silent, staring down at their daughter. _Our daughter._ She smiled, and she felt him smiling at the same time as though they were thinking the same thing.

"That was her lonely cry, right?" he asked tiredly, burying his face in her neck again.

"Mm," Katara hummed in affirmation. "You're getting good at that."

"Well I actually have to learn to tell her cries apart," Aang replied grumpily. "You can tell the difference without even trying. I think you're cheating."

"I'm her mother," Katara relied haughtily. "I have instincts about these things."

She felt him smile again and laughed a little. She stilled after several moments, however.

"Aang… I love her," she sighed. "But the whole world is against us right now. We keep getting messages telling us to hurry up and have more children, but…"

Aang moved his head from her shoulder, looking at her seriously.

"I want to raise her right first," she murmured. "I don't want to just rush on to have more children and forget about her."

"Neither do I," Aang said soothingly, pulling her closer. "How long do you want to wait?"

"You're letting me decide?"

"Of course," he said calmly. "It's your body. We can wait as long as you want."

Katara smiled, eyes never leaving her daughter's face. "I think… we should wait until she's old enough to walk," she said thoughtfully. "That's how long my mother waited after having Sokka."

"Okay," Aang said lightly. After several moments of relaxed silence, he glanced down at Leila. "She's sleeping."

"Mm."

"Come back to bed."

"Okay," she yawned, moving away from him and stepping back inside. She carefully laid her daughter back in her crib, smiling fondly at her for a moment. She just barely managed to contain a shriek of surprise when Aang came up behind her, lifting her into his arms as though she were as light as Leila.

"Hey," she laughed, looping an arm around his neck to hold herself up. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"No, I'm trying to get you back to bed," he replied innocently, grinning at her. A few moments later, they were beneath the blankets again, Katara snuggled up to her husband's chest.

"I love you," she sighed.

"Love you too," he murmured, already slipping back to sleep.

Several silent minutes later, Aang sighed heavily.

"Baby," Katara murmured, hearing Leila whimpering again.

"You sleep," Aang muttered, pressing a kiss to her lips and sitting up.

"You're a god."

Aang laughed. Leila let out a wail.

"That's uh…" Aang began slowly.

"She's hungry," Katara sighed, sitting up and getting to her feet. Aang sat back down. Katara joined him moments later, their daughter in her arms.

"You're so cheating," he muttered.

Katara just rolled her eyes, though she couldn't quite keep the smile from her face.

* * *

_The kid's name, Leila? I'm pretty sure it's Arabic for dark-haired beauty and night, which seemed appropriate since she'd totally be like Katara's little clone._

_EDIT: Summer Sweetheart made a comment that I figured I should probably address to the general reading population. As you now know, Leila is a nonbender. Summer made the point that all Air Nomads were airbenders. But I figure that was in part because they didn't ever have kids with people from other nations. I look at it like genetics. Bending is the dominant trait, nonbending the recessive. Therefore it's a tossup with every child, all depending on which chromosomes they get from the parents. That's my two cents._


End file.
